Constitutional Convention Effort in State Halted

Supporters of legislation aimed at making California the last of the states needed to call a constitutional convention for a federal balanced budget amendment have thrown in the towel for this year.

“We don’t have enough votes,” Assembyman Wally Herger (R-Rio Oso), sponsor of one of two similar bills, said Tuesday.

Sen. Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim), sponsor of the other bill, said time ran out before he could collect a team of legal scholars to present the case for a constitutional convention.

Will Try Again

Royce and Herger, authors of legislation that would give California’s endorsement to the calling of a constitutional convention, said that although they have abandoned the effort for this session of the Legislature, they will propose it again next year.

Herger said proponents were one vote short of getting the measure approved by the Democratic-dominated Assembly Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. Royce said he decided not to proceed with his measure in the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee because time ran out.

34 States Needed

Thirty-two states have endorsed a constitutional convention to enact an amendment calling for a balanced federal budget. Proponents hope that Michigan soon will be the 33rd, and they had hoped that California would become the 34th and last state needed to provide the two-thirds total required for calling a convention.

Critics of a constitutional convention have voiced fear that the issue would not be restricted to a balanced budget amendment and that the convention could “run away” and take such actions as rewriting the Bill of Rights.

Legal scholars and historians are divided over whether a constitutional convention can be restricted to a single issue. Democrats, including Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti, have voiced concern about making California the last state needed to endorse a constitutional convention that might become a runaway affair.

Second Committee

In previous years, legislation seeking a balanced federal budget has been dealt with by the Senate Rules Committee. That committee sent Royce’s bill to the Judiciary Committee in April for a hearing to consider whether a constitutional convention could be limited to a single issue.

The action took Royce by surprise. He said he began attempting to round up a group of distinguished legal scholars, including former Sen. Sam Ervin (D-N.C.) who could testify. Ervin died last April 23, however, “and that set us back,” Royce said.

Royce said by next year, he will have recruited a “fine battery of law scholars and others” to testify before the Judiciary Committee.